Mobile audio is an important form of entertainment and information today. Mobile audio devices are often utilized in automobiles, at the gym, jogging and the like. People have come to rely on mobile audio devices (e.g., car radios, portable compact disc players, portable cassette players and the like) for entertainment and information content. Entertainment content generally relates to music, songs, radio talk shows, other various forms of entertainment and the like. Information content generally relates to information reports and/or updates such as news reports, traffic reports, weather reports and the like. However, this content is often not available when desired by a user.
As an example, traffic reports may not be received often enough to be of value for a typical commuter. The commuter needs to have current traffic reports to make travel decisions and if that information is not received in time or missed (e.g., by a user being distracted by traffic during a traffic report), the commuter cannot necessarily make proper decisions. News and weather reports can also lose value if not obtainable as/when desired by a user.
For entertainment, mobile devices can provide music or other forms of entertainment by utilizing a mobile device with a tuner to receive entertainment via radio broadcasts (e.g. AM and/or FM). Just as with information, desired entertainment may not be provided when/as desired. Radio stations are typically divided into certain styles of music allowing choice of style. However, current songs may not be desirable or there may be a commercial playing preventing a person from receiving desired content.
Conventional mobile audio devices can typically play audio media such as, compact disc audio (CDDA), cassette tapes and the like. However, these media fail to provide a substantially large collection of music. Additionally, the physical storage required for these media can be extensive. Finally, changing currently playing content can be difficult and/or even hazardous while driving a car or other activity.
There are some digital audio devices that expand the size of available entertainment content such as MP3 players. However, these devices require a large amount of configuration and control, which can be difficult to perform while driving. Alternately, playlists can be manually generated, in advance, to play desired content. However, such playlists can be time consuming to generate and cannot be readily generated by a user driving an automobile. Additionally, entertainment content desired can vary or change from the time the playlist(s) is manually generated to the time the playlist is utilized on the device.
Thus, current mobile audio devices can fail to timely provide entertainment and/or information content for users. Additionally, current mobile audio devices can be difficult for a user to employ to obtain desired content.